Empty seat
by Lady Sakura-Chan
Summary: The feather is returned to Sakura-hime. Her memories and the person missing in it. Contains no spoliers. From chapter 22 in the manga.


**Disclaimer: Sadly I don`t own Tsubasa or it`s characters. Wish I did. But you can always dream…**

**A story about the beginning of chapter 22. Contains no spoilers. Syaoran and Sakura.**

**One shot.**

**Empty seat**

Sakura`s pov

He stood before her, covered in bruises, ripped clothes, holding her feather. It was glowing with a soft, gentle light. His eyes fell on her with a worried look. Sakura recalled that he told her to stay with Chyn Yan in her home. How worried hadn't she become when he left the house in Kurogane-san`s and Fai-san`s company.

He had looked so tin between them, so fragile. Trough she knew that he was strong and safe, she still had been very worried that he was going to get hurt and she was right. Syaoran`s left leg was wounded and his clothes torn to pieces. Still he worried about her, like his own pain meant nothing. It was painful to see him treating himself like that, forgetting about himself and cared only for her.

The feather left his hands, floating slowly over to her in the air with a soft sound.

Syaoran`s pov

She looked worried, standing there close to Chun Yan, probably thinking about my wounds. I hadn't wanted her to enter the castle, it was far too dangerous for her being part of the battle against the castle-lord. Her safety was my first priority.

I realized that the feather was floating towards her from me.

Everyone in the room saw that the princess suddenly was carefully pulled over the floor, soaring some meter up in the air. The warm-glowing feather sank in to her chest and disappeared. She seemed to fall into some trance, her emerald eyes went blank, like she had been looking into something a very long time.

Sakura`s pov

She sat in front of a huge tree-table, dinging with cakes and sweets. At the other side of the table, Toya and Yukito sat.

_"Happy birthday, Sakura-hime"_ Yukito said.

She heard her own voice answer him. _"Thank you, Yukito-san!"_

_"This won`t be enough for a glutton like you."_ Toya teased with a grin, pointing at all the sweets before him.

_"I can`t eat all this!"_ little princess Sakura complained, waving her arms at her brother and friend.

_"Well, this is a special occasion, so let`s eat!"_ Yukito said cheerfully, as usual when the royal siblings began to fight. _"The chef said that today's_ _dessert was his greatest work and was made especially for today!"_

_"Really? The chef can cook so many delicious dishes!"_ Little Sakura cheered happily.

She looked blushing into the shining drinking glass, before turning her attention towards the seat next to her.

_"E… thanks for coming today on this party. To be able to celebrate my birthday with you, I`m very happy."_

The seat next to her, the one she had been talking to, was empty.

The reminder of the memory made Sakura wake up, her eyes snapped and while the tears begun to fall on her cheeks, she whispered to herself; "Why? There is no one there…just an empty seat…"

Syaoran`s pov

The princess sank towards the floor, I carefully cradled her close to me when she fell into my open arms and pulled her warm, soft, limp body in my lap.

Her body was warming up even more that she had done after the two first feathers was returned and it seemed that she gained more heat after every feather.

Warmth, memories, smiles.

It seemed that after every feather was returned, a more bit of my beloved Sakura came back to life and bloomed out, like the sunflowers in late summer or the apples` flower in Clow by early summer. Like a cascade of happiness and warmth, the way she usually was before.

The way he wanted her to return to again.

Once again, the witch`s deal echoed in his mind, playing the same sentence over and over again, like a broken accord.

_"Even if you return every one of her feathers, any memories of you will never come back. That…is your price."_

Sadly I turned my eyes towards my sleeping princess, folded in my arms, like a little girl being held by her mother, tucked away from all the evil that exists.

"One more feather was taken back" I said with a unsteady voice, still repeating fragments of the witch's word inside my mind.

_"any memories of you will never come back….your price…never come back….price…never…_

Still, even if Sakura-hime never remembered me, she still was my most important person. That`s why I would never give up my search for her feathers.

To see her smiling face.

Once again.

Well? This is my first story I have ever written in english, so please don`t be to hard on me.

Cat`s eye`s sweetest cakes and scones are in the rewiving button, so welcome in to the cafe!


End file.
